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Sorry Rob no time to read your whole thread (33 pages wow). I just wanted to say that if your starter is no good it could be pulling hundreds of amps to start the car and there's no way your alt will recover the battery from that. If you haven't already get your starter draw tested. It should be no more than 175 amps I think. I've seen a bad starter pull over 400. Anyway disregard if this post is wack. Cheers.

Daninski wrote:Sorry Rob no time to read your whole thread (33 pages wow). I just wanted to say that if your starter is no good it could be pulling hundreds of amps to start the car and there's no way your alt will recover the battery from that. If you haven't already get your starter draw tested. It should be no more than 175 amps I think. I've seen a bad starter pull over 400. Anyway disregard if this post is wack. Cheers.

Hey Dan, I'll take a look when I get home but it doesn't seem like it's the starter since the charging problem doesn't consistently occur immediately after start up. If the starter was bad and drained amps even when not starting the car I'd imagine the starter would still engage after startup, and that would mean hella grinding on my flywheel so I don't think thats it. I'll still try it out.

I'm at work till 8 tonight and its already getting dark, not looking forward to working in my dark cold garage haha.

When my starter went wack the only indication I had was a weak battery so much so even after 1 hour of driving the battery couldn't start the car. Starter sounded fine other than that. A starter amp draw test told the story.

Daninski wrote:When my starter went wack the only indication I had was a weak battery so much so even after 1 hour of driving the battery couldn't start the car. Starter sounded fine other than that. A starter amp draw test told the story.

Ill have to give it a shot, I havent' got a VAT-40 machine but there might be a shop with one somewhere.

So I am having stupid ---damn amounts of trouble with this car, I'm so exhausted with this s--- that if I don't get this hammered out soon I'm going car shopping.

So basically:

-Car does not charge, voltage doesn't stay anywhere near 14.5V, only place it consistently holds voltage is around 9V
-Alternator pulley gets very very hot
-Alty belt squeals like crazy
-Currently the only aftermarket mod is an touch screen deck inside

What I've done:
-Replaced Alty belt(with gatorback from auto value)
-Tested battery(Passed)
-Replaced alty(twice), latest one is a NAPA reman that I tested at pickup
-Replaced alty peg to fuseboxs, then fusebox to battery positive terminal and battery negative to chassis ground with quality 4AWG wires
-Replaced main fuse
-Cleaned up grounds(Remove, sand paper to bolt and contact point, reinstall)

Tomorrow I'm gonna replace the stock engine to chassis grounds with 4 AWG wire, and if I can I'll replace the starter(time constraints on this one since it gets super dark super soon).

I'm literally at my wits end as to what to do here, if anyone has any possible suggestions please tell me them.

RobMinhas wrote:-Car does not charge, voltage doesn't stay anywhere near 14.5V, only place it consistently holds voltage is around 9V

Voltmeter im assuming? sounds like u have a huge draw some where which im sure you already know.. or it actually could be a short

RobMinhas wrote:-Tested battery(Passed)

How did you test the battery?

RobMinhas wrote:-Replaced alty(twice), latest one is a NAPA reman that I tested at pickup

I had a alt issuse and the alt was actually the draw... i recomened taking it to a place that rebuild alts by you and they car actually test all the componets in the alt like dioads and such.

RobMinhas wrote:-Alternator pulley gets very very hot
-Alty belt squeals like crazy

bad bearing in the alt?(I Know its new)
its the AC compressor locked up?
do u have the tensioner to tight?

the only other thing I can say is make sure your terminals are on tight on the battery and the alt, as well as check the wire that runs from the alt to the battery mybe its damanged some where along the line.

Thefez wrote:

RobMinhas wrote:-Alternator pulley gets very very hot
-Alty belt squeals like crazy

bad bearing in the alt?(I Know its new)
its the AC compressor locked up?
do u have the tensioner to tight?

Ya, something isn't right here. I like what you're going tho

Voltmeter yes, don't seem to have a draw, have checked amperage while the car was running, nothing excessive.

Battery tested at Partsource, put in the machine and checked for any bad cells.

Not sure where I can get it tested but I'll give it a shot, no car means hard time getting anywhere thats not got a bus station.

Alt bearing appears to be fine, AC compressor doesn't run on the same belt so I doubt it would effect it. No seized pulleys anywhere.

Tensioner has been tightened to too tight, too loose and just right, multiple times. All charging system wires that go from the alt to the battery have been replaced.

I'm on a new scent right now, tried a different ECU, no change, gonna replace the charging system wires I haven't gotten to yet tomorrow(ALT plug, that sorta stuff) and see if theres a change.

RobMinhas wrote:Voltmeter yes, don't seem to have a draw, have checked amperage while the car was running, nothing excessive.

Battery tested at Partsource, put in the machine and checked for any bad cells.

Not sure where I can get it tested but I'll give it a shot, no car means hard time getting anywhere thats not got a bus station.

Alt bearing appears to be fine, AC compressor doesn't run on the same belt so I doubt it would effect it. No seized pulleys anywhere.

Tensioner has been tightened to too tight, too loose and just right, multiple times. All charging system wires that go from the alt to the battery have been replaced.

I'm on a new scent right now, tried a different ECU, no change, gonna replace the charging system wires I haven't gotten to yet tomorrow(ALT plug, that sorta stuff) and see if theres a change.

is this a KL? becuase my alt and AC compression run on the same pully system...

No sir it is a B6. One belt runs Alt, water pump and off of crank pulley, other runs AC, PS and off of the crank pulley.

RobMinhas wrote:No sir it is a B6. One belt runs Alt, water pump and off of crank pulley, other runs AC, PS and off of the crank pulley.

this is was I am confused then lol.. ok then ahah.. good luck and keep posting ill shoot ideas out as i can

So alternator #4 fared the same as the original three, voltage across battery held at 12.4V, voltage drop from hot peg to random ground read 12.4V, voltage drop from hot peg of alt to fusebox is 0.11V, fusebox to batt was 0.17V so it seems like theres a problem with whats telling the alt to charge. After the ECU, alt, fuse harness and grounds have been all replaced I'm pretty much out of ideas, tomorrow I'm gonna talk to a guy I know who worked at Mazda for 25 years and see if he's heard of anything like this before and if that doesn't pan out I'm taking this thing to the shop. Taking the train to class got old pretty fast and I'm completely reliant on others for rides which is just a PITA.

And if the shop can't figure it out, or the cost outweighs what I'm willing to put it in I might just find another MX3 and but the BPT into that instead of dicking around with this POS.

You try with the battery disconnected?

Nd4SpdSe wrote:You try with the battery disconnected?

Not sure what you mean but when I removed the pos terminal the voltage stayed steady at 12.4V.

So I just had a moment of clarity here, why am i putting money into the b6? Majority of the school year is done and winter is on its way out so I can suck it up and train it now, might as well just do the swap. Alt, battery, harness and BP09 ECU are all tested and good to go, so why am I bothering with a variable that will be removed fromt eh equation two months down the road? Gonna crack down and do the valve sprigns so I can get this sucker together.